From the Chair

It’s only about three more weeks till the 2012 Advanced Business Valuation Conference in Phoenix. Registrations are coming in – is yours one of them? The conference committee under the guidance of KC Conrad, ASA has put together a great conference and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you there. As a reminder, the Business Valuation Committee will be meeting on Sunday, October 7th from 8:30am to 5:00pm; the meeting is open to all, so please feel free to stop by for the whole day or just part of it to see what the committee is up to. Some of the major topics on the agenda will be education and strategic planning.

In August, the BVC held a conference call to discuss the progress that our outside marketing consultants have made relating to our strategic plan, in particular, BV branding and positioning. They had a number of suggestions and initiatives that were presented to the BVC. As a result, our marketing subcommittee has been working on setting priorities and moving things forward. I’m hoping to be able to present some of these ideas at the conference for those of you who will be there.

For those of you who practice in the tax arena, the IRS has announced some proposed changes to Circular 230. It appears from this document that the IRS does not consider appraisers to be practitioners after all, which may mean that we do not need PTINs (Preparer Tax Identification Number). Of course these are only proposed regulations so it’s impossible to tell what the next step will be.

In addition to goings on at the IRS, the ASA is still working on the “appraiser as fiduciary” issue. Although the Department of Labor has not reintroduced their proposal to treat appraisers as fiduciaries as of yet, we are trying to “cut them off at the pass” by pushing forward a legislative alternative.

I expect to receive a draft letter to the Appraisal Standards Board from the BV Standards Subcommittee in the next few days in response to the second exposure draft of the 2014-2015 USPAP. Once the BVC has reviewed and approved it, it will be posted for the membership. Just as a reminder, the more our voices are heard, the more likely we will have some influence on the process and the final version of the standards. So, please take the time to read the latest exposure draft and comment by October 5. I noticed that several people responded last time by referencing the BVC’s comments and then adding on anything else that they felt was important. I would rather see you all do something similar rather than just ignoring the issue.

So, that’s about it for this month. I look forward to seeing you all in Phoenix. Please make sure to come over and say hello and let me know what the BVC is doing right and wrong. After all, we’re here to serve you.

Linda Trugman, ASA
Chair – BV Committee